Show acon AID ioimo ahr daras or the light kew york sun in the last number of the century magazine hay and nicolay narrate their ajea of what happened at the war department on the evening alter the second election ot president ident lincoln in As they were not present their report must be a matter of hearsay I 1 do not know eliat any particulars they relate ae deficient in accuracy though I 1 can that while I 1 was there at that time I 1 did not observe them I 1 was not usually on duty in lie war department at night but mr fe tanton had directed me to come over that evening and I 1 arrived pretty early say at eight or half eight the excitement of the had been intense in all my experience I 1 have never witnessed any other election that bad eo lucli politics in it all the resources of partisan science hacked by alie immense power of the vast and wide spread expenditure of the war department then about a million a day had been employed by the ascue and relentless statesman at the heal of the war ollace and he did it with a pertinacity and skill that never have been surpassed of course no great tep biad been taken the knowledge and consent of sir lincoln himself a politician of a very fertile and superior order but the engineer hard was never taken off alie machine and purpose never relaxed ita h gh was mr and his ardent and excitable nature was kept at fever belt to the very last moment of alie contest and atterway atter war 1 the president apparently as serene as a summer morning was in mr St antons birge private room and no one was with him except I 1 ha secretary and general eckert who came continually with telegrams the result of the voting was of such a decisive character that the diews arrived much earlier than bad absen expected and when I 1 went in I 1 learned both from the ident and the secretary that the question seemed already to be substantially settled kich dispatch that was received deemed onla to add to the apparent certainty aid by about 9 there wag no longer any doubt but without waiting lor that hour mr lincoln drew from his breast a thin yellow covered pamphlet dana said he to me have you read anything of petroleum V nasby pronouncing nasby as hough the first syllable were spelled with the letter e no sir eaid I 1 not much but I 1 know he writes from the confederate cross and prenta his thines in the toledo blade yes eaid mr lincoln thata BO but that is not the whole pull up your chair and listen I 1 drew up to him and he begun to read aloud to me only and not to stanton one after another ot funny bits and between each of them we bad a quiet little langh all to ourselves but the lion head of the secretary showed plainly that he had no sympathy w ich the amusement in fact bis face wore its darkest and st ernest expression however the reading went on occasionally casio nally broken by general eckells Ec kerls entrance with another telegram to which mr lincoln paid no very serious attention and he quickly turned baik to the reading every time in this way be read pa and even pages of nasby until anally a dispatch was brought of a more important nature and he laid alie pamphlet down to attend to it while he was thus engaged mr fc tanton motioned to me ta come with him into general eckerth Ec kerts room and when the door was shut be broke out in fury it to said he was there ever such nonsense was there ever baili inability to appreciate preci ate what is going on in an awful crisis here is the fate of this whole republic at stake and he is the man around whom it all bentres centres cen tres on it all depends turning aside from this momentous this incomparable issue to read the trash of a billy I 1 this fiery speech of the enraged secretary waa interrupted by general eckert who had another telegram which he showed to him and with wh chwe all went back into mr stan tons own office in eliat the president might eee it hardly hail be began to read it how ever felien a new occasion of ir ri arose the messenger brought in a card and handed it to the president who said at once as he passed the card over to the secretary show him in stanton read it and turning to me exclaimed ia a low voice god in heaven it ts Whitelaw Keld 1 I 1 understood alie point of this explosion at once mr acid who was then the correspondent of the cincinnati and a areat friend of secretary chae in washington vias not liked by the of war tills dislike had gone eo far that the of alie wat department had received directions that mr reid was not to be admitted cut when he pent hla card in to the president they could not refuse it mr came in and was greeted by mr lincon but not by the secretary ilia purpose was merely to obtain from headquarters and tram the highest authority the n that the election bad certainly gone in favor of lincoln and after expressions df abanks and congratulations he with orew just then judge david 0 cartler came in with two or three other lemen among bliem mr fox of i lie navy department and the reading of petroleum V nasby from alie confederate cross was not resumed these incidents of a memorable historical event aru not recorded in any annals of the time that I 1 have and yet they appear to mo interesting te and characteristic enough not to be forgotten 0 A D |